4 Ways to Teach Growth Mindset in Your Classroom
Creating a Growth Mindset for Students
The term growth mindset has grown in popularity in recent years. Especially in schools. While it originally gained popularity in secondary schools, it is now a common topic taught as young as preschool.
As an elementary teacher, you are in the perfect position to teach kids about a growth mindset. If you are not familiar with what a growth mindset is though, it may seem like a big task to take on.
Not to worry! This quick read will give you all the information you need to know about growth mindset for elementary students. Plus, 4 ways to teach growth mindset in your classroom that you can start today!
What is a Growth Mindset?
The first thing to identify before understanding a growth mindset is to know what a fixed mindset is. A fixed mindset is when your thoughts are set in place. This is usually related to a person’s perspective on their skills or abilities.
An example of a fixed mindset in school would be if a student believes they will always be bad at math. “Always” is a common word with a fixed mindset. Another word is “never”- for example, “I will never be good at math.”
While a person with a fixed mindset believes there is no way to improve their skills or intelligence in a certain area, a person with a growth mindset believes that there is the opportunity for change.
Rather than thinking they would never be good at math, a student with a growth mindset would say, “I am not very good at math, YET!”
Why is a Growth Mindset for Students important?
Growth mindset is important for students because it teaches them how to have the desire to become better at something, and believe they can do it!
In elementary school, especially first and second grades, a growth mindset is essential. This is the time in each student’s life when they first learn how to react to successes and so called failures in school. Therefore, this is when they are decide if they are going to have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.
If a student is taught a fixed mindset, they may do poorly on a math test and then believe for the rest of their life that they are bad at math. However, when young kids have a growth mindset and they perform poorly on a test, rather than feeling defeated they know they can try again!
Growth Mindset Activities
Teaching your students to have a growth mindset is easy to incorporate into your everyday curriculum. You can teach your students how to create a growth mindset in any subject!
We love finding a way to include it in as many subjects as possible. This way students learn to connect their growth mindset in different areas of their lives. Here are 4 of our favorite growth mindset activities for first and second graders.
The Most Magnificent Thing STEM Read Aloud
If you haven’t read “The Most Magnificent Thing” then you need to pick up a copy today! This book is not only one of our favorites to start the year off, but it is perfect for teaching about a growth mindset. To help students activate their own growth mindset, we took our original The Most Magnificent Thing read aloud for this book and added a STEM challenge !
Back to School Growth Mindset Sort – Bulletin Board
Remember how we mentioned that the word YET is a powerfulI word for a growth mindset? Well, in this back to school growth mindset activity students start the year off by acknowledging what they can’t do YETI. This teaches students how to acknowledge things that may not be strengths now, but how if they persevere they can become good at these skills.
Back to School STEM Challenge – Puppy STEM Activity
Once students are familiar with a growth mindset, provide them with a challenge that requires them to persevere. This Puppy STEM activity is a great way to challenge students and remind them that with their growth mindset they can succeed in creating the perfect leash for Pogo the puppy!
Growth Mindset Activities – September
While this learning quest is one of our favorites to kick off the school year, it can truly be used at any time throughout the year. Just like any of these activities! We love to use it in September simply because it teaches students about a growth mindset early on. Then, you can use it as a teaching tool the rest of the year.
If you’re looking for more Growth Mindset activities check out our STEM activities for First and Second Graders you can visit our shop or you may be interested in these blog posts such as:
We'd like to send you a free interactive read-aloud that is easy to use in either a print or digital format!
